Chapter 2121
Ivy let out a bitter chuckle, a sound laden with defeat and self-mockery.
Hearing it, Balfour felt a pang of sourness in his chest, which was an indescribable sentiment.
He couldn’t explain it, but sometimes the human heart was just that peculiar.
Before he met Ivy, he could hardly fathom that a mother could truly be indifferent to her own child.
“Clara did such awful things to me, and they never asked me about it once. They only care about my sister! Why was that?
Am I really that inadequate, that even though I’m her flesh and blood, she still can’t find it in her heart to like me? It’s just so exhausting.”
Ivy sighed deeply, then closed her eyes, feigning sleep.
Only she knew that within the confines of her heart, she was silently crying again.
Balfour didn’t rush to console her; instead, he looked at her with eyes full of complex emotions.
Ivy had learned from a young age that tears only meant something when shed in front of someone you care about.
All Clara had to do was put on a fake sob in front of Tessa, and Tessa would drop everything to comfort her.
But once, Ivy had accidentally missed a step on the staircase and tumbled down, scraping her knee raw. The pain was so intense that she cried out on the spot.
“Mom, it hurts so much…”
She remembered calling out like that, but her mother…
Her mother was perched on the couch, digging in cornflakes and watching TV, not sparing her a single glance.
In the end, it was the nanny who noticed Ivy’s mangled knee and scooped her up to tend to the wound.
As Tessa passed by, she cast a glance at lvy, who was reaching out for a comforting embrace. Ivy only heard Tessa say with a disgusted tone, “Seriously, you can’t even handle walking down the stairs. Be more careful next time.”
Her mother didn’t care about the pain. She only felt that it was an inconvenience.
After that, Ivy dared not cry out openly every time she was hurt.
She blamed herself for being so useless. If only she had been more careful, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt.
Years of endless self-blame made Ivy doubt herself more and more. As she grew older, she began to realize that not everything was her fault.
But this environment had shaped her upbringing, and her feelings of worthlessness and neglect had taken root. She felt she could never escape.
She loathed her twisted family and her perpetually biased parents. She hated it more that all these truths were laid bare in front of Balfour, which drained her of the courage to stand beside him with any dignity.
Because of her family, she always felt like a joke-in-front of Balfour.
A family that constantly dragged Ivy down, chipping away at the little courage she had like a balloon pricked and deflated.
i
Balfour said nothing. As they got out of the car, he opened the door for her as usual and took her hand as they walked back to their room.
The car was a tight space earlier so I didn’t get a proper look. Let’s check now,
Does this hurt?”
Ivy instinctively shook her head, and Balfour, who squatted down, looked up at her, “What about here?”
